Coupons

My routine on Sundays is to cut out all of the coupons for stuff I buy on a regular basis, and also the things I don’t need to buy so often. Then I separate them into two piles: food and non-food items.

When the sales circulars come later in the week (most grocery stores around here start sales on Fridays), I check them out and match up the deals with the coupons I’ve hoarded and only bring those with me to the store.

Since most coupons are good for at least a month (some I cut today have May expiration dates), I can use them at my leisure, when I need more peanut butter or mustard or whatever. And when there’s a really good price cut on something, AND I have a coupon (that is always doubled), sometimes the item is actually free!

I wish I could better organize the coupons, but my system works pretty well. I separate the ones I plan to use into a third pile, but I usually bring the other coupons with me just in case there’s an in-store special on something else.